This is a continuing problem now. The software downloads work after install and processes it but then wont upload. Keep saying user deferred. When I exit and relaunch I get 'Communicating with BOINC client. Please wait...' but it stays like this for hours. I've removed it and reinstalled a few times and each time it downloads work but then wont upload. Its only a recent issue. Been working fine before about 4 months ago. Could do with a step by step of what to check. No other programme on my machine has issues connecting so it seems to be specific to BOINC.

The deferred uploads is normal. They will upload automatically after at the most 24 hours. You shouldn't need to exit and re-launch BOINC.

As for the "Communicating with BOINC client. Please wait..." message, that happens when the BOINC GUI (BOINC Manager) cannot communicate with the BOINC Core Client (BOINC.EXE) via TCP/IP port 31416. If your firewall is blocking this local traffic, BOINC will have difficulties in allowing the two pieces to communicate. Try checking your firewall configuration and make sure that nothing is blocking port 31416 for BOINCMGR.EXE.

There has been various issues with the reliability of the servers of the past couple years. Hopefully this will be a thing of the past with the 4 newly built and donated servers, but they're still tweaking things to make them work right. It is entirely possible that a slower computer that doesn't contact the servers as frequently would run into the downtime more often than the uptime. However...

Checked firewall and made no difference. Even disabled firewall and still get 'Communicating with BOINC client. Please wait...'. Anything else I can check?

I can only think of two suggestions at this point:

1) Check for a driver update to your network card. I see you're using a mobile Intel Pentium Dual Core CPU, which means you're likely using a laptop. I would check for a driver update to both the LAN and the WLAN (Wireless LAN) cards.

2) Change the driver binding order. Click on the Start button, go to the Control Panel, then click on Network and Sharing Center (I'm going from memory on this one, it might be called something different on Windows Vista, but on Windows 7 it is the Network and Sharing Center). Once the Network and Sharing Center is open (or whatever it's equivalent is in Vista), click on "Change Adapter Settings". You should now be looking at your Network Connections. Press the ALT key on your keyboard to bring up a hidden drop-down menu, click on "Advanced" then go to "Advanced Settings" (you will have to allow this action through UAC if it isn't disabled).

An "Advanced Settings" window should be open. Move this window aside so you can also see your Network Connections window behind it. Locate the name of your wireless connection, for example "Local Area Connection 2" might have the universal "wireless bars" next to it. Then locate the corresponding connection to the top of the list in the Adapters and Bindings tab in the Connections window. E.g. If your wireless is your Local Area Connection 2 adapter, select Local Area Connection 2 in the connections list and press the "up" arrow on the right until it is at the top. Click OK and close out of all other windows and test your connection again.

Those messages look normal as far as I can tell, so I don't think there's a problem with BOINC.

But if you want to be sure, you can try completely removing BOINC by using the automated uninstaller, then deleting the entire C:\Programdata\BOINC folder (which is C:\ProgramData is hidden by default), then you can try a re-install to see how that goes.

I noticed that you have don't compute while active set. For most computers doing most jobs, this setting is not needed.

I also noticed that you have the default for the % of CPU usage allowed by non-BOINC processes. This is way to low for most situations. I have mine set to disable this. Many have found numbers in excess of 80% to be OK.

NOTE:

BOINC uploads tasks at the first of:

1) 24 hours after completion
2) 24 hours before report deadline
3) Connect every X before report deadline.
4) Immediately on completion of upload if this occurs after 1 through 3.
5) On any work fetch.
6) On a trickle up message (CPDN)
7) On a trickle down message (?)
8) On a server set timer connection.
9) On an Account Manager requested connection
10) When the user pushes the "update" button.

I believe that there is an 11th one, but I am not remembering it right now.

Every connection successful or not will generate a backoff. This is to avoid hammering the servers too badly. Normally it is not an issue, but when things go wrong, the clients can DDOS the servers without the backoff mechanism.BOINC WIKI

To get the messsages asked for earlier I had to remove and reinstall BOINC manager. After the reinstall it seems to upload and then download but now I have same issue again where the newly downloaded work wont upload. If I close and reopen I get the communicating message. So to confirm:

1) I download and install
2) Work downloads and processes
3) Work wont upload
4) I exit, restart and get the communicating message which is constant 24/7 until...
5) I remove and reinstall (all I can do) and this seems to upload and download more work